Birmingham City took a huge step towards Premier League survival when it beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Villa Park in a game that saw its city rivals reduced to nine men on Monday.
Villa striker Dion Dublin was sent off for butting Birmingham midfielder Robbie Savage early in the second half and Icelandic midfielder Joey Gudjohnsson followed him 10 minutes from the end.
In between, goals by Stan Lazaridis and Geoff Horsfield won it for Birmingham, who are now six points clear of the relegation zone.
The much-welcomed league double over their arch rivals left Birmingham in 16th place on 32 points, only three behind Villa, and on course to avoid an immediate return to the first division after their first top-flight season in 16 years.
In a poor first half, Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison headed wide after 20 minutes from a Damien Johnson cross and a minute later at the other end Villa's Darius Vassell sidefooted over the bar.
When the teams met in September, Villa's Finnish goalkeeper Peter Enckelman had a nightmare when he allowed a throw from defender Olof Mellberg to slip under his foot and into the net as Birmingham won it 3-0.
But he pulled off a terrific save five minutes before the break on Monday to tip over a scorching long shot by Frenchman Christophe Dugarry.
The game, always simmering, boiled over five minutes into the second half.
Dublin caught Robbie Savage with a late tackle and after the two players exchanged words, the Villa striker lost it completely and butted his opponent in the face.
He was immediately shown the red card, cranking up the atmosphere to an even more intense level.
Birmingham struggled to make their numerical advantage tell until the 74th minute, when Johnson whipped in a tempting cross from the right. Horsfield went for it, and missed it, the ball bouncing on to Lazaridis who slid in to head his first goal in two years.
Three minutes later Horsfield reacted sharply to a weak back header by Jlloyd Samuel and got his toe to the ball just as Enckelman tried to gather it, going on to score into an empty net.
Villa's misery was completed 10 minutes from time when Icelandic midfielder Gudjohnsson was shown a second yellow for a horrific two-footed lunge.
RSS